The Strange Case of Dr Reid and Ms Green
by BornInTheWrongDecade
Summary: SR/OC A shopping trip gone wrong sets off a chain of events to bring together an unlikely couple. In the search for Ashley Green's son, Spencer Reid will fall in love.But,as so often happens with love,everything will try to stop them from being together
1. Chapter 1

The Strange Case of Dr. Reid and Ms. Green

_When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. ~Author Unknown_

**Baltimore, Maryland**

"Uh-oh!" the blond haired, blue eyed boy, seated in the front of the shopping cart, exclaimed with a giggle as he once again picked up the box of Mac 'n' Cheese and dropped it to the floor of the grocery store. The nine month old flashed his young mother a wide grin, flashing his five teeth.

"Dylan Matthew Green, what did I say earlier?" Ashley Green couldn't help but smile as she attempted to scold her son. Trying not to laugh, she squatted down and picked up the box and placed it back in the cart out of Dylan's grasp.

Finding his little game hilarious, as soon as Ashley turned to grab a bag of Doritos from the shelf, Dylan reached the other direction stretching his tiny arms so he could knock a total of three bags of chips to the floor. "Uh-oh!" he shouted again, before falling into another fit of giggles.

"Dylan Matthew," Ashley warned him, not smiling this time as she returned the bags to the shelves. After placing her bag of Doritos in the cart she leaned on the handle and read over her list. "Alright, man, almost done then we can go home and take our naps, okay?" she told Dylan as she attempted to smooth down his hair, which as usual was sticking up in all directions.

Wiping a bit of drool off of his cheek she prepared to move on to the next isle, until some one called to her, "Excuse me, can you help me?" a small voice asked as a little hand tugged on her shirt. Looking down, she saw a little girl about nine or ten years old looking up at her hopefully.

"Sure sweetie, what do you need?" She replied kindly, allowing the girl to lead her a few feet down the isle.

Pointing up to the top shelf, she answered, "Can you get me some of the BBQ chips please? I can't reach."

"Sure," Ashley responded with a sigh. She was definitely taller than the girl, but she still didn't quite hit that five foot mark at only four feet eleven inches. As she stretched up wards in her attempt to grab the indicated chips, she had no clue what was going on behind her. She heard Dylan beginning to fuss and with out looking behind her she called out, "Hang on little man; mommy will be there in a sec." Finally, after a few minutes of stretching, she snatched one of the orange bags and handed it to the girl.

"Thank you!" The girl smiled widely before skipping down towards the front of the store.

Once again looking at her list as she strolled back to the cart, she wondered vaguely what had been wrong with Dylan, who she no longer heard crying. As a matter of fact, she didn't hear him at all. Dropping her list to the ground she looked up in a panic. Dylan was gone. She couldn't breathe and she began hearing a roaring sound in her ears as she began hyperventilating while running from isle to isle. "Dylan! Baby, where are you? Dylan!" She screamed as she ran around, frantically searching the store, and then the parking lot. All other customers were looking at her like she had gone crazy as she collapsed to the pavement, sobbing uncontrollably. Who ever had taken her son, they were long gone.

**Quantico, Virginia**

"What's going on JJ?" Derek Morgan asked as soon as the entire team was assembled.

JJ sighed, the concern heavy on her features. "This case is in Baltimore. In the past two months there have been five young boys kidnapped, each fitting the same description. All of the victims were between eight months and one year old, with blond hair and blue eyes, approximately fifteen pounds. Also each was taken in a public area. Three were taken in Gunpowder State Park, the second victim from a friend's birthday party, and the fifth from a grocery store." She gestured to each location on a map of Baltimore County on the screen. With the press of a button, the image changed from the map to pictures of the victims, with their names underneath. JJ pointed to the last picture, "Our latest victim, Dylan Green was taken while grocery shopping with his mother this morning. According to County police, he was taken about an hour before they called."

Taking charge, Hotch looked around the table at everybody. "Everyone, grab your overnight bags, I want to leave as soon as possible, we all know what their chances of survival are at this point. Garcia, start digging. Find everything you can on each of these families, see if there is a chance that these are revenge kidnappings. I also want you to check death records for any children who have died recently fitting the description of the missing boys." And with that, everyone on the team stood and went to prepare for the new case.

An hour and a half later as the SUVs carrying the collection of agents went over the border into Baltimore County, Hotch called Spencer Reid, who was in the car behind him. "Reid, I want you, Morgan, and JJ to go and talk to Ashley Green, the mother of this morning's victim."

"Alright, not a problem," Reid replied after receiving her address from Hotch, his nerves evident in his voice. He knew that she would be extremely emotional, and Spencer wasn't exactly good with the emotional aspect of cases. Thankfully, JJ and Morgan would be there, so he wouldn't be as much of a risk of making the mother more upset. He passed the directions to Ashley on to Morgan, who was driving, and sat back and leaned his head on the window. As he stared out at the streets of Baltimore County he attempted thinking about the one thing he didn't know everything about. What do you tell a grieving mother who's nine month old son has just been kidnapped?

Ten minutes after Hotch called them, the trio pulled up to a small house sitting right on the water. There were various brightly colored toys scattered about the front lawn, all of them damp from that morning's rain. JJ walked ahead of the two men and knocked twice on the dark blue front door. Once Spencer and Derek had reached the door, it was pulled open by a small girl who almost looked like she could be in high school, but when you really looked at her, she appeared to be no older than twenty two or twenty three.

"Yes?" she croaked out, she had been crying non stop since Dylan had disappeared and her voice was beginning to go. She self consciously wiped stray tears from under her red rimmed eyes as she stared at the three strangers.

They simultaneously flashed their badges as JJ introduced them. "Hello, I'm agent Jennifer Jareau with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. This is SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, and SSA Derek Morgan. Do you mind if we talk to you about Dylan for a little bit?"

"Sure," she sniffled quietly as she stepped aside allowing them inside. As with the front lawn, there were many different toys scattered about the otherwise clean house. "Sorry," she apologized quietly as she began picking up the ones in their walkway.

"Don't worry about it. My house looks about the same as this; I know how messy little boys are." JJ smiled at her and took the large red plastic car from her hands and sat it on a nearby table.

"You have a son?" A small ghost of a smile flashed momentarily on Ashley's face as she looked across the room at a framed picture of her son that was hanging above the fireplace.

"Yeah, Henry, he's six months old now," JJ told her as she led the way to the couch.

"Oh, so he's starting to crawl. That's when they really start getting into stuff. I remember when Dylan was starting to crawl, I turned my back for a second and when I looked back again, he was coated in blue paint. It didn't come out of his hair for almost two weeks."

Derek sat down on an armchair across from the couch and leaned forward as he talked to Ashley, "Now, I know this is really difficult to talk about, so if you want to stop and take a break at any point, just let us know, okay?" Ashley nodded, indicating that he could proceed with the questions. "Okay, is there anybody that you can think of that would have done this? Any one that paid a little bit too much attention to Dylan? Was there any one at work or that takes care of him while you're working that seemed like they were overly interested in him?"

She ran a shaking hand through her tangled brown hair as she thought. "No, I'm an artist so I'm almost always home. And whenever I leave, I usually take Dylan with me. But whenever I do have to leave him, my mother watches him and she would never do this."

Spencer crossed his arms across his chest as he asked his own questions, "What about his father? Do you think he might have something to do with this?"

"_He_ decided that he wanted nothing to do with me or Dylan. Besides, he moved to California with his new skank three months ago." A scowl made itself at home amongst her features, completing the look of the betrayed mother. Then her features softened and a look of realization dawned on her face as she looked back at Derek. "Wait, at the park, last week. Dylan was playing in the sand box and I was sitting on one of the benches nearby, and some woman came over and started asking me all kinds of questions about him. She asked me when his birthday was, what he liked, any weird habits he had, and that didn't really strike me as odd, a lot of parents at the park do that, play the how-cute-is-yours-compared-to-mine game. But then she started asking me things like how much he weighed, if he had anything medically wrong, and things like that. It was just strange how specific she was getting. I ended up making up a fake doctor's appointment, grabbed Dylan and left." Her honey brown eyes widened in horror and they once again filled with tears, "Oh my god, is this my fault? I should have known she was up to something! Do you think it was her?"

"This is not your fault," JJ placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "you're not the first person this has happened to. And we don't know if this was her doing or not yet, so don't blame yourself. Now, did she ever tell you her name?"

"Just her first name, Mary." She roughly wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

"Excuse me a minute," Spencer said apologetically, walking back outside as his cell phone began ringing. "Yeah, Hotch?" he answered as soon as he closed the door behind him.

"We've found three bodies. I need you to bring her down to the morgue to try and ID them. Tell JJ and Morgan to meet me at the police station to talk to the other patients."

"Hotch, I don't think-," Spencer began; he couldn't handle calming her down if one of them was really Dylan. This was a job for JJ, or Emily, not Spencer.

"Reid, you can handle it. Now, just do what I say, you of all people know of the time constraints with this case." Hotch sounded stressed as he hung up on Spencer. Spencer took a deep breath as he walked back inside, this wasn't going to be pretty.

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**Okay, so there's chapter one. Obviously I don't own any of the Criminal Minds characters, I'm not that amazing/god-like. I'm close, but not quite lol. Also, there is a banner for this story posted on my profile, so check it out. Anyways, review and tell me what you think. Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank yous go to Violet-Madness and Night Person 4ever. I really appreciate the reviews! They are what motivate me to get out updates. I also want to thank every one that has favorited and subsrcibed. Anyways, here is chapter two for you. I hope you like it! And don't forget to check out the banner for this story which is on my profile :)**

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_All things are difficult before they are easy ~ Thomas Fuller_

Ashley's face filled with confusion as the FBI agents led her outside. This lack of understanding grew as JJ and Derek went to the car they came in, but Spencer grabbed her by her elbow and walked to where her car was parked. "Do you want to drive or should I?" He asked as they approached the large black car, which was probably new sometime in the 1960s or '70s.

Knowing she probably was still too upset to drive, she pulled the keys from the pocket of her skinny jeans and tossed them to him. "Where are you taking me?" Her voice shook with anxiety, hoping it wasn't as bad as she thought.

Before answering, he opened the passenger door for her and gestured for her to get in before shutting the door and going around to the other side. As he sat in the driver's side and buckled his seat belt, he began, nerves just as evident in his voice as in hers, "Okay, I'm just going to be straight with you," he took a deep breath before continuing, "They found three bodies this morning, all fitting the description of the missing boys. I'm going to take you down to the morgue so we know that none of them are Dylan, while Derek and JJ are going to talk to the other parents before they go to the morgue themselves."

It broke his heart to watch as tears poured from her liquid brown eyes and down her cheeks. "I thought Dylan had more time! He's only been gone for two and a half hours! Why would they take him just to kill him! He's just a baby, he didn't do anything wrong. Why would some one do this?" Ashley once again broke down. Unsure of what to do, Spencer gingerly placed one hand on her shoulder and slowly brushed his thumb over the skin exposed by the thin spaghetti straps of her black tank top. Needing human contact now more than ever, she moved the short distance between them and buried her face in his shoulder.

Spencer's entire body tensed up as she grabbed at his waist, but he knew withdrawing would only worsen the situation, so he awkwardly placed his arms around her shoulders. After a few moments, he allowed himself to relax a little and tightened his grip around the small woman. "I'm sure none of the bodies are his. Children kidnapping victims are usually killed within the first twenty four hours. Like you said, Dylan has been gone for less than three hours. We still have a twenty one and a half hour window to find him. I promise, I will get your son back to you." His jaw tightened as he told her this lie. Frankly, Spencer was much more pessimistic about Dylan's situation. Until he knew more about the case, he had to assume this unsub was extremely dangerous, which made Dylan's survival more unlikely as the seconds ticked by. However, this unusual soft spot for Ashley would not allow him to be so blatantly honest with her as he normally would be. He couldn't let her lose hope so soon after losing her son.

Once Ashley had calmed herself, she pulled herself off of him, her face an exceptionally violent shade of red. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have- Ummm, thank you, Dr. Reid." She once again rubbed at her eyes as the tears continued to flow, but at a slower rate.

"It's okay," Spencer replied, his voice coming out somewhat strained as he felt just as awkward as she seemed to. Clearing his throat loudly, he started the car and pulled away from the curb and headed for the city.

Most of the ride was filled with an awkward silence and tension you could've cut with a knife, until Ashley looked over at Spencer and spoke calmly, "Be honest with me now, I promise I won't attack you again. But, what do you _really_ think Dylan's chances are at this point? Please, no sugar coating."

Dreading the question almost as much as her reaction, Spencer inhaled deeply and couldn't look at her as he replied, "Honestly? The longer it takes to find him, the more likely it is that we won't find him alive. What I said about the twenty four hours is true. If we don't find him within the next twenty one hours, he probably won't have made it." Seeing the tears well up again, he quickly added on the other details, "However, depending on other details of the case, that time constraint may change. All the victims so far have fit the same physical description, so that means the unsub is probably using the children to represent a child they were attached to, a son, a sibling, niece or nephew. And if that is the case, they will most likely keep the victims alive longer due to this attachment. Really the twenty four hours is just a starting point in these kinds of cases."

Ashley just nodded, a blank look taking over her face as she forced the tears back. She maintained this composure as Spencer parked the car in front of the morgue, running around to open her door for her. Under normal circumstances, this gesture would have made her melt and pray to be asked out, but now she barely noticed. While she smothered her emotions to keep them from showing on the outside, she didn't even really process the external world, she was just going through the motions as her inner mind was consumed by worries and horrific imaginings of what was happening to her baby.

Spencer placed a comforting hand on her mid-back as they made their way through the cold building, until they finally reached their destination. The autopsy room was even colder than the rest of the building, and a choked sob forced its way through Ashley's lips as she saw three small bodies covered by sheets on the shining metal gurneys. "Dr. Reid?" A middle aged woman with partially gray hair asked as the door closed behind them.

"Yes, and this is Ashley Green. She's one of the mothers, she's here to try and id one of the bodies," Spencer removed his hand from Ashley's back to shake hands with the woman.

"Yes, Agent Hotchner told me why you were coming. I'm Dr. Jane Smith. Now, these first two were killed too long ago to be her son. The first was killed over a month and a half ago, and the second was about a month ago, maybe a little longer." Then she gestured to the last one, "This one, however, has only been dead for a few hours."

"What's the cause of death?" Spencer replaced his hand on Ashley's back as her heard her starting to sob quietly.

One of Ashley's hands was pressed over her mouth and the other flew up and clutched a handful of Spencer's jacket as the medical examiner led them to the one on the far end of the room. As they got closer she began hesitating and Spencer had to gently push her along. She held her breath as Dr. Smith lifted the sheet. "The main cause of death was asphyxiation, but this was burned into the skin post mortem." Ashley turned to the side and vomited as the doctor pointed to a small heart that had been burned into the palm of the child's hand.

Instinctively, Spencer was at her side in a second and gently pulled her hair from her face. She let out a series of choked sobs as she doubled over and emptied her stomach onto the tile floor. "Why would some one do that?" she cried, accepting the tissues offered to her by Dr. Smith and wiping off her mouth.

"Because who ever did this is very sick," Spencer whispered to her as he rubbed circles on her lower back. "Now, I know you don't want to do this," he told her as he helped her to stand up straight again, "but I need you to take another look and see whether or not it's Dylan."

Taking a deep breath, she slowly walked back to stand next to the small body. She let out a small sigh of relief and looked to Spencer. "It's not Dylan. My baby is still alive."

He couldn't bring himself to point out that that wasn't necessarily true and just smiled before walking her back out of the autopsy room. He stopped in the lobby before walking over to the coke machine. Inserting a dollar he got her a regular coke. "Here, I figured you probably don't want that taste in your mouth all day," He was blushing slightly as he handed her the bottle.

"You didn't have to do that. But thank you," she smiled as she accepted the drink. She was no longer crying as she walked back to her car with Spencer. She was still horrified and paranoid about the whole situation, but this little trip had given her the small sliver of hope that she needed and she was able to keep her tears under control now.

**Police Headquarters**

"What d'you got for me, baby girl?" Derek asked Garcia as he flipped open his phone.

"Sorry my lovely, but not such good news for you this time," Garcia sighed. "I have examined every millisecond of video footage in and around all the kidnapping locations and I've got nothing. Who ever is taking these kids, definitely did their home work. They knew exactly where and how to walk and stand so their face would never be seen. But I can tell you that the unsub is a woman."

"Well that's better than nothing. Anything else?" Derek ran a hand down his face as he looked through the window at JJ as she prepared the parents for the trip to the morgue.

"Yes and this little tid-bit is why your information goddess decided to grace you with a phone call. The little girl that distracted Dylan's mother in the grocery store was present at every scene. Looks to me, like your unsub is a mommy too."

"Garcia, I love you," Derek smiled as he began walking over to Hotch.

"Yes, I know you do, know stop slacking off and get to work," she joked before hanging up.

"Hotch; the little girl that talked to Ashley in the store while Dylan was being taken was present at all the scenes. Garcia said it looked like she was with our unsub, who, by the way, is a woman."

"Good, go tell JJ to bring the other parents back here after they go to the morgue. I want to press them a little harder and see if they remember seeing the girl."


	3. Chapter 3

**The Strange Case of Dr. Reid and Ms. Green Chapter Three**

_Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals ~Martin Luther King Jr._

**Police Headquarters**

Hotch stood with his arms crossed in the small office the station had provided them, staring at the photos that the ME had sent over. The hearts obviously signified care for the child, but if that's the case, why kill him? Even after all these years, there were some things he would never understand, especially killing a child.

Hotch was just about to give in to his desires and call Jack as his phone started buzzing in his hand. With a sigh he hit answer and put the blackberry on speaker phone before sitting it on the table so Rossi and Prentiss could hear. "You've got me, Rossi, and Prentiss," he said, leaning his hands on the table.

"Yeah, we've got identified bodies and six hysterical parents down here. The first one died a month and a half ago, they ID'd it as our first victim, Jason Riddle. The second died a month ago, and his parents ID'd him as Anthony Thompson. And the last one that was killed this morning was ID'd as Michael Jones, last week's victim. Which means-,"

"We have one more body to find," Emily finished for him as Rossi taped up the pictures of the dead beneath the corresponding pictures of the living. "All of the times of death overlap with when the next victim was taken."

"So, she isn't killing them until she has a replacement," Rossi said contemplatively as he stared at the pictures. "But why replace them?"

"There must be some trait that the boys either do or don't have that makes her think they aren't good enough." Hotch rubbed his tired brown eyes as he plopped into one of the chairs.

"Well, whatever that is, let's hope that Dylan has what she wants. Dr. Smith took a closer look at the bodies and Michael had the most signs of physical abuse out of all of them. There were hand shaped bruises on both sides of his ribs and other smaller bruises scattered on the rest of his body. It looks like she's escalating." Derek sighed

A look of determination came over Hotch as he stood. "Prentiss, you come with me, we're going back to the dump site in the park to look for Marcus Keighton's body. Rossi, you go to Ms. Green's house and wait for Reid to get back with her. While you wait call Garcia and tell her to search school rosters for that little girl. Then I want you two to go find her and get her to talk. Find out who this woman is. Don't back off until you get the information you need, if she is escalating we need to find her as soon as we can."

**Green Home**

"Thanks again, Dr. Reid," Ashley said, gesturing to the now empty coke bottle sitting in the cup holder.

"I-It's not a problem," he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "And you don't have to call me Doctor, just Spencer is fine."

"Okay…Spencer," Ashley blushed and looked down at her hands.

Turning off the car and pulling the keys from the ignition, Spencer jumped from the car and ran to the other side, once again holding the door open for Ashley. Noticing the black SUV parked behind the car, Spencer signalled to Rossi to wait a little longer as he escorted Ashley to her front door. "Here," he said as he handed her the car keys and one of his cards, "You can call me if you want. I mean, if you have any, uhm, questions."

Smiling slightly at his nerves, Ashley accepted the keys and card, letting her hand linger in his even after she had a grip on the items, "I'll definitely be calling you. And, I just wanted to say thank you again, I know I'm not exactly easy to deal with." Then she hesitated before adding, "Is Dylan going to be okay? I know I've asked you a thousand times, but…"

"Well, it looks like the person taking the boys, isn't killing them until she has some one to replace them with. So, as long as no one else goes missing, I think your son is safe. This unsub cares to much about the child she is trying to replace, she won't hurt your son unless she finds a better candidate."

For the first time that day, Spencer caught a ghost of Ashley's real smile. And his thoughts only came up with one word to describe it, _breath-taking_. "Thank you, Spencer. Bye," she said as the smile disappeared from her face while she walked through her front door. Spencer could only imagine what that smile would look like with out all that pain behind her eyes.

"Garcia just called me with a school. We have to get to Joppa View Elementary, the girls name is Katie James," Rossi told Spencer as her got in the passenger seat. Spencer just nodded as they pulled away from the curb.

**Body Dump Site**

"Excuse me, do you have a cell phone?" a young girl, probably sixteen or seventeen, asked Hotch and Emily almost immediately after they stepped out of the car. She looked to be on the verge of having a panic attack as she ran towards them.

"What's wrong?" Emily grabbed the girl by the shoulders and forced her to meet her gaze.

"In the woods…" the girl sobbed and pointed one shaking finger to the trees immediately behind her.

"That was just outside the search area," Hotch stated, angry that they had missed the last body by just a few feet. He left Emily with the teenager while he went to call for the necessary assistance.

"Come on, relax," Emily soothed, opening the door to the SUV and allowed the girl to sit sideways on the back passenger seat. Once the girl had gotten a hold on herself, she began asking questions, "I'm SSA Emily Prentiss. What's your name, sweetie?"

"Casey," the girl sniffled, comforted by Emily's soothing tone.

"Now what happened? Did you see something?" Emily knew damn well what she saw, but she figured it would be best to ask any way, just to double check.

"A little boy, one of the ones from the news," she sobbed before breaking into hysterics all over again.

Emily looked over at Hotch, who was standing by the edge of the trees, and gave him an affirmative nod. "Alright, Casey, try to calm yourself down. Agent Hotchner and I are going to go look at what you found. You stay here; more officers will be here to talk to you more okay?" Casey just nodded as Emily pulled on a pair of latex gloves and walked away.

**Joppa View Elementary**

"Can I help you?" A large man, who greatly resembled Jamie Hyneman of Myth busters but with hair and no beret, asked as Spencer and Rossi walked through the front doors of the elementary school.

"SSA David Rossi, this is SSA Dr. Spencer Reid. We're with the Behavioural Analysis Unit. We need to talk to one of your students." The men all shook hands after the agents had shown him their badges.

"I'm Stephen Arnold, vice principal. What student are you looking for?"

"Katie James," Spencer replied as they followed Mr. Arnold back towards the class rooms.

"Ah, yes, I know Katie." He sounded tired just talking about her.

"Does she cause a lot of trouble?" Rossi asked as they neared what was labelled as the fifth grade wing.

"No, just the opposite, she's the model student. It's just, her mother is a problem. Her younger brother, Andrew, died a little over two months ago," the two agents exchanged a knowing look and Spencer quickly jotted this fact down on his note pad, "and ever since then her mother has been pulling her out of school so often that at this point it would be impossible to pass her. Let's just say, it hasn't been easy on anybody."

Finally, they reached what sounded to be a math room. "Excuse me," Mr. Arnold said, poking his head through the doorway, "Could I please borrow Katie James?"

A moment later, a small girl walked out, followed by a chorus of "oooh"s from within. Dave immediately got down to Katie's level and had a friendly smile on his face as he talked to her, "Hi, Katie. My name is Dave Rossi, and this is my friend Spencer Reid. Do you mind if we talk to you for a little while?"

Silently, the little girl smiled and nodded. "You can use my office," Mr. Arnold offered before walking back the way they came. Spencer was caught off guard as the little girl skipped up to his side and snatched his hand. Silently she smiled up at him as she continued skipping at his side.

Dave thanked Mr. Arnold politely after being escorted into his office and waited until the door was closed to speak to Katie, "Did you know the my friend Spencer here does magic tricks?" Katie shook her head from side to side, signalling that she didn't. "Why don't you give her your card, Spencer?"

Smiling at Katie and tucking his brown hair behind his ears, he pulled a business card from inside his pocket and held it towards her. However, just as she was about to grab it, he pulled his hand away and threw the card up at the ceiling. "Check your back pocket."

"Wow! How'd you do that?" Katie looked down at her hands in amazement after doing as she was told and producing Spencer's card from her own pocket.

"I've been asking him that for years, he still won't tell me," Dave said as both men took seats across from her.

"Katie, we want to talk to you about your brother Andrew. Can you tell us what happened to him?" David asked, keeping his voice friendly, trying not to overly upset her.

"Mommy got mad at him and he went away. But she said she would fix it, and I get to help her. I helped her get him away from the other ladies that took him from her. At first I thought they weren't him, but mommy got mad at me when I said that, so now I believe her." The beauty of children, they are almost always brutally honest.

"What does she say, when she goes to try and get your brother back?" Spencer asked leaning closer to her.

"'I won't lose him again. You'd better do it right this time.'" Katie winced slightly as she quoted her mother.

"Katie," Dave started, trying to tread carefully, "Those boys that you help your mom take, they aren't Andrew. The one she has right now, his real name is Dylan Green. Now his mommy misses him very much. Can you tell us where he is?" Katie remained silent and was no longer looking the agents in the eye.

"Katie, is Dylan at your house? You need to tell us, he isn't safe, Katie," Spencer added.

"My mommy is a good mommy, she won't hurt him again," Katie was suddenly angry and turned away from the men to look out the window.

"I'm going to go call Hotch and let him know what we found," Spencer said quietly to Dave as he stood to leave the office.

It only took two rings before Hotch answered, "Reid, did you and Rossi get anything out of the girl?"

"Yes and no. She has admitted to taking the boys but her mother has her convinced that they are really her brother Andrew; he died about two months ago. It sounds to me like the death of a child was her mother's breaking point, and now she's forcing her own delusions on Katie. It also sounds like she is abusive. She said that Andrew only goes away after her mother becomes angry with him."

"It makes sense. She feels guilt over killing her son, so she finds a look alike to replace him, but she can't control her anger anymore and keeps killing the children and has to find a new replacement." Hotch sighed before continuing, "Call Garcia and get more on the mother. Where she works, where she lives, any close relatives she might have in the area. Any place she could be hiding Dylan, I want its address. Keep pressing the girl, find out where her mother is today and once you find out you and Dave go immediately. "And with out another word Hotch hung up.

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**Well, there is the long awaited chapter three. I'm sorry it took so long to get out. My house just recently got internet back, so it was nearly impossible for me to get on here to update. But I would like to thank everyone that has reviewed this story. And an extra special thanks to T. GLover for being my beta :) You guys are all super awesome!**

**Well, I hope you liked this chapter despite how long I made you wait. Please, take a few seconds to review, I would really appreciate it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Strange Case of Dr. Reid and Ms. Green Chapter Four**

_There never was a child so lovely, but his mother was glad to get him asleep.-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

"Thanks, Garcia," Dave sighed and rubbed his forehead. He slipped his phone in his pocket and started up the SUV. "Mary James lives with no one but her daughter at 5476 Hilltop Lane. She works at a privately owned deli on Vincent Road. We're checking the house, Morgan is meeting us there. JJ and Emily are checking the Deli. Hotch is at the morgue with the Keighton's so they can confirm that the new body is their son."

"Vincent Road, that's where Ashley lives," Spencer pointed out, his mind once again flickering to Dylan's mother. He was more determined than ever to find her son for her. He had the strangest urge to just see her really smile, and that was unsettling for him. He was letting himself get too emotionally involved. _Well, if anything does come of me and Ashley, she's less than two hours away,_ a small voice said in the back of his mind. But he quickly dismissed that thought. Regardless of the distance between Baltimore and Quantico, he didn't have time for a relationship, especially when a child would be involved.

Rossi gave him a strange look but said nothing and instead drove quickly towards the previously mentioned address. It took almost fifteen minutes to get from the school to the house. When they arrived they found the driveway empty and there was no answer when they knocked on the front or back doors.

"Maybe they found her at the deli," Rossi suggested when they did a window check and still saw nothing.

"Wait," Spencer hushed him and held him in place as a noise caught his ears.

"Is that crying?" Spencer just nodded before impulsively—why was this case making him act so strange?—trying to open the window in front of him and when he failed at that he tried all the others. When none of the windows were open he returned to the back door which, he had noticed, had a fairly old weak frame. It had probably been there when the house was originally built, sometime in the fifties or sixties by the look of it. He drew his gun as a precaution and kicked the door in. His knee, which still gave him trouble occasionally, throbbed painfully but he ignored it and hurried inside. He heard Rossi pull his own gun and follow him in.

"I'll check the basement, you check upstairs," he said, sounding unusually authoritative after they checked the main level only to find a bunch of empty rooms. As he began to descend the stairs the crying-which had stopped shortly after they started their search on the first floor—started up again and he knew Dylan was down here somewhere. _And not hidden very well,_ he observed when one of the first things to catch his eye was a playpen in the middle of the floor. And sitting right next to the gate was Dylan screaming away with his head thrown back and tears streaming down his face. The good thing about this kind of kidnapper, they are so delusional they don't feel the need to find a good hiding spot for the missing person.

He slipped his gun back into the holster on his hip and quickly went and snatched Dylan up to hold him tightly on his other hip. "Mama," Dylan sobbed and gripped Spencer's sweater like it was a life-line.

"I know, you'll see your mom soon," Spencer told him quietly and turned and went back up the stairs. "Dave," he called up the steps leading to the second floor, "I've got him."

**Greater Baltimore Medical Center**

Ashley rushed into the pediatric ward waiting room and looked around, not letting out a sigh of relief until she saw Dr. Reid with Dylan on his hip and talking to one of the physicians. She had to use some extreme self control to stop herself from running, but still borderline jogged over to her new favorite FBI agent.

"Mama," Dylan cried happily and clapped his little hands together as soon as he saw Ashley begin to approach.

Tears of joy began to stream down her cheeks as she readily accepted him when Spencer handed him over. "Oh, my baby, I've missed you so much," she told her son and hugged him tightly and kissed him repeatedly. "Is he okay?" she looked at the two doctors in front of her.

"Not even a bruise," the physician told her with a grin before excusing himself and walking back to the exam rooms.

"Thank you Dr. Reid . . . Spencer," she turned to him and he finally got to see her really smile.

He stumbled over some syllables for a minute, and then managed, "It's no problem. I'm just glad we got to him quickly. I didn't want you to be kept up worrying. He's a good little guy, though. Except for when I first found him he's barely fussed at all."

"Yeah, he's my good man," Ashley grinned proudly and giggled slightly when a rather large string of drool landed on her chest. "He's a drool bucket, but he's still my main man." Dylan laughed enthusiastically and planted a sloppy kiss on his mother's shoulder, leaving behind a quarter sized spot of drool.

"What?" Spencer furrowed his brow in confusion when Dylan reached one hand to him and made a whining sound.

"He wants you to hold him; he likes you," Ashley laughed.

"Oh," Spencer chuckled nervously and allowed Ashley to hand Dylan back to him. Ashley thought when she finally did get him back she would let no one else hold him for some unknown length of time, but for some reason she trusted Spencer more than that. _Probably just because he's the one that found him for me_, Ashley rationalized.

"Did you find a new friend?" Ashley asked Dylan and tickled his side making him giggle loudly and rest his head on Spencer's shoulder. "Sorry about the drool," she told Spencer with a grin as she saw it beginning to pool on his sweater.

"It's fine," he reassured her.

"Where are the other agents?" she asked him as they stood around in the waiting room.

"Back at the police station. They found Mrs. James at the deli where she worked and took her into custody. We'll probably be heading home before the day is over."

"Oh," Ashley replied, somewhat disappointed she wouldn't be seeing Spencer again unless he showed up at the woman's trial, which she knew she would more than likely be expected to testify at.

"Do, uhm, do you want me to walk you to your car?" Spencer asked nervously and shifted Dylan up higher on his hip.

"I'd like that," Ashley replied with a blush.

Except for the occasional phone call, it was three months before Spencer heard from Ashley again. The phone calls were usually fairly short, just catching up mainly and either he got interrupted by work or she had to attend to Dylan. Every time he had gotten up the nerve to try to make plans with her—twice—he ended up getting called on a case and had to cancel. Ashley had begun to wonder whether or not he was really interested or if he was just putting up with the phone calls to humor her.

It was on a whim that a week after Dylan's first birthday, when she had gone with him down to her father's home in Quantico to visit, that she made a pit stop at the BAU. "Dylan," she asked the one year old boy after kissing her father goodbye and she began to get Dylan into his car seat. "Do you want to visit your friend Spencer? Do you remember him?"

Dylan did not actually remember him, he was only a baby after all, but he parroted his mother none the less. "Spence-err, Spencer, Spencer," he squealed happily and flashed Ashley a wide grin, revealing his new teeth that had come in not too long ago.

"Yeah, you two were good friends for the little while you saw each other," she laughed and told him as she got into the driver's seat and pulled out of Evan Green's driveway. She took one hand from the wheel to wave goodbye to her dad who was still standing on the front porch and watching as she left.

Luckily for Ashley, once she got out of a long bout of "sight-seeing"—most people would say she was lost, but she has yet to accept the fact that she is geographically challenged—one of the security guards at the building where the BAU was located was able to confirm for her that Dr. Reid had returned from a case that morning and was still in, along with the rest of the team, working on the subsequent paperwork. As she had expected, all of her things were searched before she was allowed to enter and she received directions from the same guard that had told her Spencer was in today.

"Come on, Mr. Man, let's go say hi to the people that brought you back to Mommy," she murmured to Dylan as they approached the doors to their destination. A blond woman that she recognized reached the glass doors at the same time as Ashley. "Agent Jareau?" she asked, feeling slightly nervous now that she was there.

It took JJ a moment to remember the face, but when she did she grinned widely and shook Ashley's free hand. "Ms. Green, hi. What are you doing here? And please, it's JJ."

"Well, Dylan just turned one so I brought him down here so my dad could see him, and figured I may as well visit you guys while I was here. I'm just glad I came on a day when y'all were here."

"I think you being here will just about make Spence's day," JJ said cryptically with a smirk on here face and pulled the door open, gesturing for Ashley to go first. "I'll take you to his desk," JJ told her and began walking ahead of her. Ashley followed obediently and tried to ignore the curious stares she was getting from other agents. "Spencer, someone's here to see you."

"What?" He looked legitimately surprised and stared at JJ puzzled.

"Spencer," Dylan shrieked excitedly almost as if on cue.

"Hey," Ashley added on, blushing a little more than slightly.

"Oh, uhm, hey . . . err, hi," he replied nervously and stood up fast, knocking some papers off his desk in the process. JJ walked away shaking her head and chuckling. "Thanks, sorry," he said as she helped him pick up the fallen documents. Once they were both standing again he asked, "What are you two doing here?"

"My dad lives around here, and since Dylan just turned one we came down so Dad could see him and do the whole birthday thing. And since I was in the area, I figured I may as well take a chance and stop by in case you all were here," Ashley explained.

"How long are you going to be in Quantico?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. He tried to ignore Derek watching from his desk, smirking as he watched their interaction.

"Just for today. But I'll probably be hanging around for a while before heading home, if you wanna, I don't know, do something later . . ." she offered and cracked the knuckles on her hand nervously.

"Yeah, uhm, yes, that's . . . that'd be great," he said quickly. "I'll have to finish these first, but—"

"Relax, kid," Derek cut him off and walked over, grabbing the papers from Spencer's desk. "I'll finish these. You go on your date."

"Thanks, Derek," Spencer told him. Part of him wanted to argue but he knew that it would be futile to do so, and even if he did argue it and win he would never hear the end of it and probably give Ashley the wrong impression as well.

"Hi," Ashley said awkwardly and waved at Derek. She remembered him from the day Dylan was missing. He had come to her house with JJ and Spencer.

"Hey," he smiled at her. "This must be Dylan. Hey little man."

"Dylan say 'hi'," Ashley instructed with a smile and held up her hand to imitate a wave.

"Hi," Dylan flashed a toothy grin and followed his mother's action.

"He's cute," Derek laughed.

"Thank you, for helping to find him before . . ." she said gratefully.

"No problem, Ashley," he replied.

"Maybe I'll see you around," she answered hopefully as she started to walk away with Spencer.

"I'd better," he called after them and made sure Spencer caught the pointed look he cast his way.

"So, do you want to meet the rest of the team before we go?" Spencer asked as he saw the rest of his family collected around the coffee, JJ along with them. There was no doubt in his mind that JJ had spread the news of Ashley's visit and now they were all waiting around to see if it was true.

"Sure," she grinned. She had wanted Dylan to meet all of those responsible for getting him back to her. She had even debated inviting them to his birthday, but those plans were cancelled, along with another what she hoped would have been a date with Spencer when they got called in on a case in Ohio.

They approached the cluster of agents and Spencer spoke up. "Guys, this is Ashley and Dylan. This is Aaron Hotchner, Penelope Garcia, Dave Rossi, Emily Prentiss, and you've already met JJ."

Immediately Garcia and Emily began to gush over how cute Dylan was, and much to Spencer's surprise he actually saw Hotch crack a smile at the small boy. "Can I hold him? He is the cutest baby ever!" Penelope asked Ashley and held her hands out to Dylan, who had already taken to the friendly woman and reached his arms to her in response.

"Looks like he says yes, so I have no objection," Ashley laughed and handed him over.

"Be careful, it looks like she might keep him," Emily joked.

"You think he's cute now; you should see him pretend to be a dinosaur. It's hilarious." Ashley turned her attention to Dylan, "Dylan, are you a dinosaur?"

"Big disaur," he exclaimed and bounced excitedly on Garcia's hip.

"Are you a scary dinosaur?"

"Rawr!" he shrieked and made a clawing motion with one hand.

"Oh, so scary," Ashley feigned fright and placed a hand over her chest with a giggle. Hotch finally managed a full smile and resisted pulling his phone out right there and calling Jack. He'd wait until he was back in his office. After everyone, even Hotch to everyone's surprise, took a turn holding Dylan, Spencer said they should probably go soon so she doesn't have to drive home too late.

"Awh, bye baby Dylan," Garcia told the little boy and ruffled his hair.

"Mwah," Dylan giggled as he brought his hand to his mouth and then flung it towards Garcia in an attempt at blowing a kiss.

"Flirt," Ashley teased him and kissed his cheek. "They're all really nice," Ashley told Spencer with a smile once they were out of the building.

"Yeah, they're the closest thing I have to a real family," Spencer admitted and followed her to her car.

After putting Dylan in his car seat, she tossed Spencer the keys. "Unless you are in the mood for random sight seeing, you should drive. I accidentally went sight seeing for almost an hour before I found this place."

"You mean you got lost?" he asked once they were both seated and buckled in.

"No, accidental sight seeing," she insisted with a grin. He just shook his head and smiled at her. Maybe this could work after all.

* * *

**I know, you're all in shock, I actually updated! Sorry it took me so long. Four AP classes, computer crashes, and general lazyness do not combine well. But I hope you all enjoyed the update, even if it did take me forever plus a few days. Thanks go to everyone that took the time to review chapter three and I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say about this one!**


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